(Corrects third paragraph to say Joe about to buy a business)
Joe the Plumber was the surprise star of the third and final presidential debate, getting no less than 13 mentions in the opening minutes.
So who is this guy? His full name is Joe Wurzelbacher, and it turns out he had a close encounter with Barack Obama a few days ago. John McCain adopted Joe’s cause as a way to tar his opponent as a tax-and-spend liberal. 
The apparent problem is that Joe is about to buy a company that makes a little over $250,000 a year, and under Obama’s proposal that would put him into a higher tax bracket. Obama told Joe that he wasn’t trying to punish his success, only to spread the wealth around.
“Joe wants to buy the business that he has been in for all of these years, worked 10, 12 hours a day. And he wanted to buy the business but he looked at your tax plan and he saw that he was going to pay much higher taxes,” McCain said.
“Joe, I want to tell you, I’ll not only help you buy that business that you worked your whole life for and be able — and I’ll keep your taxes low and I’ll provide available and affordable health care for you and your employees,” McCain said, staring straight into the camera.
McCain got a little caught up in the moment and muddled in his message to Joe by saying at one point that “fifty percent of small business income taxes are paid by small businesses.”
Still, Joe the Plumber has become a bit of Internet celebrity and Republicans quickly latched onto his plight, issuing a statement saying his comments to Joe showed that Obama would “tax to death” the American Dream.
Obama’s response was that Joe the Plumber needed a tax cut five years ago, and Obama wants to “make sure that the plumber, the nurse, the firefighter, the teacher, the young entrepreneur who doesn’t yet have money, I want to give them a tax break now. And that requires us to make some important choices.”
As for Joe himself, directory assistance had no telephone listing for him in Toledo, Ohio. If you’re listening, Joe, we’d love to hear how you’re handling fame!
Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.
- Photo credit: Reuters/Gary Hershorn (McCain makes a point at the presidential debate)
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At $250,000 Joe is no ordinary plumber, or American for that matter. And why should I be helping some rich guy buy his business anyway? Let him wait until he’s got $350,000.
- Posted by RichOHey Joe that’s great that your gonna make 250k a year but cmon…. you think that’s a deal breaker? What about the rest of us? You suck, go HOME JOE
- Posted by daveIf the two of you are making 77k combined each with masters then don’t blame Joe but yourselves!!!
Why are you made someone worked hard and now can make decent money.
- Posted by DavidJoe the Plumber is a lot like Cosmo the plumber in Moonstruck. Worrying about whether he can buy some baubles for his mistress.
- Posted by StrykurNo you idiots….Joe himself doesn’t make 250,000+ a year, his entire small business does. He has to spread that to his employees and overhead. Do the math - he’s not rich - very middle class.
- Posted by andyever call a plumber in the middle of the night? they are rich
- Posted by rossdamn. you all fried chandler. told the man to be a plumber. but really, do plumbers get money like that!?
http://DCtoBC.com
- Posted by modiTim i agree with 100%. Also, Chandler maybe you should invest in a new job.. i mean c’mon. Dont expect others to trickle down their success for you and your unfortunates.
- Posted by NokChandler, have you ever considered a career in sales? I’m in sales and I’ve consistently earned more than $77,000 per year and I don’t have a degree, let alone a masters. I’m not being facetious, just trying to help. As far as someone making $250K being rich…that’s not true. Better off? Agreed. Many people I know make over $250K and they work hard - they’ve earned it and shouldn’t be punished for their success. That just isn’t fair.
- Posted by DanI don’t know about anyone else but quarter-mil/yr is a hell of a lot of money.
Isn’t it so typical that McCain and the NeoCons would support tax breaks for the rich.
Joe the Plumber, with his 250K salary and small business, probably hired a lobbyist. Hmmmmm.
- Posted by jjl171Poor old Joe the Plumber. He’s really got it rough. How’s he gonna get by on a measly $250,000 a year?
- Posted by FredJoe the plumber doesn’t sound like an average American to me, either. I’m college educated too and struggle to make enough to support myself, a grandchild and my disabled daughter. Wish I had someone to stand up for me… OH WAIT! I think maybe Obama would.
- Posted by PhyllisI don’t think Joe the Plumber falls into the category of Mom and Pop either. I doubt he would be taxed “to death” under the Obama plan.
My disappointment that the McCain “wefare for giant investors” capital gains cut of 8% didn’t come up. Is there anything the man won’t do to reward people like himself and his wife. Cripes, who in the middle class benefits from any of the plums he is handing out to the wealthy?
I’m tired of being told to tighten my belt while the fat cats get a new pair of pants. Would it kill them to sacrifice a little? Our kids are already fighting the war so their little angels can live up to their potential. Enough!
- Posted by PoggePoor Joe. He’s only making a quarter of a million a year. And he’s a plumber. Is he actually making as much as two senators, two governors, or two Berkeley full tenured professors? Huh? And he feels sorry for himself? And McCain does too?
- Posted by James BehlkeChandler,
No disrespect intended but if you guys both have MS degrees, maybe you should consider being a plumber. Seriosly though, I can relate to Joe the Plumber as I am a small business owner myself and I have worked very hard and stuggled for a long time the first few years. So why should my hard earned money be taken from me and given to someone else? Just because Joe and most other small business owners (that employee millions of people so those people in turn can provide for their families)that had the nerve, dedication and perserverace to realize their dreams should be taxed higher, just so the the money could be passed on to the firefighter, teacher, student, etc. like the above article mentioned? C’mon, they chose their professions, just as you and I did.
- Posted by tim@Chandler - Maybe the low salaries of college educated people and the high salary of Joe the plumber is the real reason that US education gets lower scores than other countries.
- Posted by Amy AnTo Joe (The Plumber)
WHEN Obama wins the election I feel for you and your employees. I say this becuase all of the McCain supporters (the ones in denial of his imminent loss) will be shitting bricks. Who are they going to call, the one McCain loves, Joe the Plumber. Maybe you should start distributing laxatives now.
- Posted by ChelseaI am a plumber’s apprentice in Wyoming and my boss cannot offer us an insurance plan and still pay us enough to afford the increases in the cost of living without going out of business himself anyways. Could the McCain plan change that fact?
- Posted by Larry C. Dressellisn’t joe the plumber lucky? he makes 250K+ a year and he has John McCain to stick up for him.
- Posted by rmI don’t believe Joe the Plumber is an average American — $250,000 a year?! My wife and I, both college educated with master’s degrees, struggle to make $77,000 annually combined. $250,000 IS rich.
- Posted by Chandler